


Sweater Weather

by Venarti



Category: AFTER LIFE 소원을 담는 만화경 | AFTER LIFE: The Sacred Kaleidoscope (Visual Novel)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:20:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27595399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venarti/pseuds/Venarti
Summary: It's cold. So cold, June starts looking for a sweater.
Relationships: JunexSian
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Sweater Weather

The freezing weather was unusually cold, even for a winter in the usually mild Overworld. June normally would have just powered through – more exercise and hot food would stave off the cold perfectly well, after all – but sometimes an extra layer of clothing didn’t go amiss.

Except, in this case, it had. June owned exactly one sweater, a fluffy red thing that was probably twice as big as it needed to be. It had been a present from the Lead Manager several years back, and they’d never asked June for his size. A thoughtful gift, for sure, that June had only worn twice. Once when he’d received it, before promptly putting it in storage for as long as he could politely get away with, and once yesterday when he’d decided it was probably cold enough to justify wearing it again.

“Theo!” He called, throwing more clothes out of his chest of drawers. “Have you seen my sweater?!”

Theo – eyes fixed on a point on the wall a little over June’s head – had already checked everywhere else in the dormitory. “I haven’t seen it. Did you take it off anywhere outside the dormitory, and maybe left it there?” June _was_ known for removing clothes at the drop of a hat, normally right before launching into some kind of exercise.

“No, I don’t think so.” June held up a t-shirt despondently. “I did my laps, went to the farm, helped Jamie move some hay bales for Non-non, patrolled the forest with Ell, did my exercises, patrolled the grounds with Verine, did my evening laps, then came back here.” He ticked the activities off on his fingers. “But I still had the sweater on when I came back for the night!”

Theo shrugged. “Maybe it got taken out for washing? Sian and Kati came around whilst you were getting some food, it’s possible they took it without any of us noticing.”

“Ah ha!” June leapt to his feet. “I’ll go ask them at once! Thanks, Theo!” He dashed out of the room, ignoring Theo’s bleat of protest at the mess of clothes spread over the floor.

***

June _burst_ into the Twilight Team’s dormitory. There was a yelp from Kati, who had settled down long enough to start reading a book, though he’d chosen to do so with his feet up the wall and his back on the arm of the dormitory sofa. The surprise of June’s sudden entrance made him overbalance, and he toppled to the floor.

“Kati! Are you okay?” June made to rush over but stopped as Kati popped back up over the edge of the sofa and had to duck as Kati – ineffectively – threw the book he’d been reading at his head.

“Why are you just barging in!” Kati shouted. “I could have been hurt!”

“Ah, I didn’t mean-!” June started.

Kati cut him off. “I even lost my place in my book!”

June picked up the book from the floor. “I’m sorry, Kati! How far through the book were you?”

Kati huffed. “Not that far – but that’s not the point!” He stalked over to June and snatched the book from his hands. “What did you want, anyway? Tell me or I’ll bite you!”

“I was looking for my sweater!” June said quickly. He knew full well that Kati would _absolutely_ follow through with his biting threat if given the slightest provocation. “I was wondering if you and Sian picked it up on laundry detail last night!”

“I don’t remember!” Kati flounced back to the sofa, jumping back onto a seat and throwing his legs over the arm of the chair, away from June. “I just pushed the trolly, Sian was gathering the clothes.”

“I’ll have to go find him, then!” June said. “Thanks, Kati! Enjoy your book!”

Kati huffed again, flipping through pages to find his place, as June took off again.

***

June’s running around warded off most of the morning’s chill, but he was still feeling a little cold by the time he finished looking. Sian wasn’t on duty this morning, but June had checked the gardens, the forest, the training area, the farm, the mess hall, and most of the area around the Soul Reaper’s buildings before retreating inside. He shook the frost from his coat – it would melt and dry up pretty quickly, he figured – and hung it up, then made his way to the one place he’d not checked yet.

The library was one of the coolest parts of the building, owning to its large windows. June walked quickly through the middle area, but there was no-one sat at the large circular table. There were more seats on the balcony, so he headed to the stairs. It was a lot of work to find his sweater, especially before breakfast, but by now June was committed. Besides, what was a little hunger in the face of determination?

The upper ring was a little warmer than the ground floor of the library, but June still found himself shivering a little as he made a round of the balcony. The first few nooks were unoccupied, the deep armchairs cold to the touch. June was beginning to wonder if Sian had gone somewhere he’d already been – and if it was worth getting breakfast before continuing his search – when he reached an alcove about halfway round from the main staircase.

“AH!” A bundle of blankets jumped as June appeared, silhouetted against the multi-story window that backed the staircase. “Who told you I was here!”

“Sian?” June asked, approaching the blanket pile. On the table between them was a small box of food in an insulating container. “Is that you?”

“Who else would it be?!” A mop of white hair appeared as a blanket was thrown off the pile, and the incumbent Soul Reaper started clawing their way out. “What do you want?!”

“Ahha!” June laughed. “I was looking for you! I wanted to know if you’d seen my sweater from yesterday!”

Sian stopped squirming for a second and fixed June with a glare. “What?”

“My sweater! It’s cold, and I wanted to wear it for a bit!”

“Oh.” Sian’s cheeks went red. “Well, yeah, I know where it is…”

“Fantastic! Tell me so I can go retrieve it, it’s cold in here!” June shivered, though he didn’t stop smiling.

“Well, there’s a problem with that.” Sian looked away. “I mean, if you _really_ want it back…”

“Of course I do! I can’t get all my tasks done if I’m cold!” June took another step into the alcove, which was surprisingly warm – especially compared to the rest of the library.

“You’re cold? You?” Sian asked.

“Yes! It’s really cold, bro!”

“Well, if you’re cold, you need some blankets, not a jumper!” Sian resolutely continued looking anywhere but June. He held out a blanket. “Come and warm up, already. If you want to, I mean!”

“I should probably get some food-”

“You can share mine. I mean, if really need to.”

June hesitated a moment, thinking of his usual breakfast that would have filled Sian’s food container four times over. A cold breeze passed the entrance to the alcove, and he made up his mind with another shiver.

“Sure! Is there room on that chair, with all the blankets?”

“Uhh, sure.” Sian pushed at the blanket pile, making a little space on the side of the chair. Luckily, these chairs were almost comically oversized, and Sian was hardly the biggest Soul Reaper. June settled into the blanket nest next to him, snuggling down into the warm fabric. It was an amazing difference from the cold air, and it only got more comfortable as Sian put an arm around his shoulders.

“Wow, you really are cold. Did you go outside? You should have put a bigger coat on!”

June smiled, relaxing back against Sian’s wiry chest. He wasn’t as muscular as Ethan or Day, but it was still comfortable. And it felt oddly familiar…

“Ahha! I found my jumper!”

“Well, it’s cold! You can have it back when it warms up!”


End file.
